N. Korea Rejects U.S. Pressure on Nukes

Published 7:00 pm, Thursday, January 2, 2003

North Korea rejected U.S. pressure to stop work on its nuclear development and said Friday that the issue would be "easily settled" if Washington agrees to negotiate a nonaggression treaty.

However, the North's ambassador to Beijing, Choe Jin Su, said his government rejected any U.S. preconditions on the talks.

The Bush administration has insisted the North stop its nuclear work before any talks can take place.

"If the U.S. legally assures us of security by concluding a nonaggression treaty, the nuclear issue on the Korean Peninsula will be easily settled," Choe said.

However, "the U.S. should respect international agreements and respond with dialogue toward the DPRK without any preconditions," the ambassador said, referring to his government by the initials of its formal name.

Choe defended the North's decision to restart its plutonium-based nuclear program last month, a step that raised international fears that it might produce weapons of mass destruction.

He accused the United States of threatening the North with nuclear weapons, and said it was forced to act when a U.S.-led coalition in October cut off energy aid promised under a 1994 agreement.

"We are compelled not to implement" the 1994 nuclear freeze agreement, Choe said at a news conference. "The situation is getting worse and worse."

Washington says it turned off oil supplies to North Korea because Pyongyang acknowledged in October the existence of a second, uranium-based nuclear program, which violates international arms control agreements.

Last month the dispute escalated when the isolated, Stalinist dictatorship removed monitoring seals and cameras from its nuclear facilities at Yongbyon, expelled U.N. nuclear inspectors and signaled it may withdraw from the global nuclear arms control treaty.

The West's energy aid was part of a 1994 agreement under which the North was to stop nuclear work in exchange for help in building two reactors that wouldn't produce weapons-grade nuclear material.

The United States and North Korea fought on opposite sides of the 1950-53 Korean War and have never had official relations.

Choe blamed the United States for the recent tensions, and said American efforts to rally international pressure on the North were only making things worse.

"We were forced to take self-defense measures against this threat for national dignity and the right to existence," he said.

However, Choe said North Korea would be willing to discuss conditions for again freezing its nuclear program with the U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency "when the time permits."